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Origin and history

The Maison des Templiers de Beaugency is a Romanesque civil building located at the corner of Rue du Traîneau and Rue du Puits-de-l'Ange, in the Loiret department. Dating from the 12th century, it is considered the oldest house in the city, although its attribution to the Templars is not based on any historical evidence. Its architecture features twin arches in the full hanger, decorated with broken sticks and smooth-leaf capitals, characteristic of the Romanesque style.

The house underwent major renovations in the 15th and 16th centuries, including the addition of a spiral staircase serving the floor. In 1944, part of the building was destroyed during the Second World War bombings. Prior to these transformations, the ground floor housed five shops, as evidenced by the 17th and 18th century confessions. The arcades on the ground floor, destroyed in the 19th century to develop a trade, have disappeared, but those on the floor remain.

The street façade was classified as a historic monument by order of 7 June 1919, while the rest of the building, as well as a adjoining house and two courtyards, were registered on 22 December 2006. Despite his name, no source confirmed his connection with the Templars, whose house attested at Beaugency was on Rue des Querres. The medieval remains still visible, such as a door and a fireplace of the 15th to 16th centuries, testify to successive transformations.

A staircase facing the late Middle Ages, with a radius of about 1.20 meters, serves the floor, while a narrower and older staircase, perhaps a Romanesque one, is partially preserved. Smooth-leaved capitals of the upper bays suggest dating in the mid-12th century. The house, partially destroyed in 1944, lost part of its original structure, visible on the cadastral plan of 1828, which indicated a longer building.

The murals of the early sixteenth century, discovered in the destroyed part, represented a nave surrounded by a stylized forest and animals, perhaps evoking the discoveries of the New World. These elements, along with the sculpted caps and larmies of the late 15th or early 16th century, illustrate the additions after the initial Romanesque construction.

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